Rob Zombie is one of the most polarizing figures in modern horror. Folks seem to either hate his movies or love them to the point of obsession. When he’s not behind the camera, Zombie somehow finds time to also record new music, tour, and put together a massive carnival of metal and haunted house mayhem known as the Great American Nightmare. A renaissance man, to say the least.

Zombie is currently working on his latest film, 31, about five people in 1976 who are abducted and forced to fight for their lives during the five days leading up to Halloween. This time he’s going the crowd funding route (get involved here), offering fans a plethora of goodies for their donations helping get 31 off the ground and into their eyeballs.

Zombie took the time to talk with us about 31, the crowd funding process, what he’s learned over the years as a filmmaker, and his favorite Halloween movies (that aren’t Halloween).

There’s 15 days left in the 31 crowd funding. What’s that experience been like so far and what has the feedback been like from the fans?

I mean, the experience has been great but the feedback has actually been like really, really good. I’m not gonna lie, when the idea came up to do this I was very skeptical. Because I didn’t know much about it and it sounded kinda weird to me, you know? And I was very particular about how I wanted to do it. I wanted to make sure that it was more like an online store, so when people donate they get something that’s more toward whatever that amount was. I didn’t want to skimp people and just ask for free money, basically. To me that’s kind of pathetic.

But really it’s been great. I’ve done a bunch of meet and greets and met a bunch of fans since the whole thing started. Everyone’s been really happy about it, they’re happy to be involved and have the chance to get stuff. And you know horror fans, they’re very involved in everything. Most other genre fans won’t go to conventions and get excited about movies that are 40 years old. They’re really passionate, you know? It’s been really good.

So far you’ve teased a lot of artwork from the film, but how far along is the movie. Is a script written yet?

The script’s finished. That’s been done for a long time. I’ll still mess with it, but essentially it’s done. We’re waiting for this (the crowd funding) to be done, and then we’re looking to start in full production early next year if everything goes according to plan.

Your past films have been pretty brutal and gritty. Is that the approach you’re going for with 31? How would you describe it?

I would say, out of all my films, this is going to be the most brutal. It’s pretty intense, it’s pretty humorless, and it’s pretty all-out.

Wow. And this is your sixth or seventh film…what do you think you’ve learned from the past that you’re applying now to 31?

I’m always learning with each film, but the main thing you learn that’s of real value is how to make the script tight, so don’t shoot the things you don’t use. Because on a movie like this, I don’t have the time to waste shooting things I won’t use. So that’s the thing I’m really trying to do with this script, take it down to the essence. Like on Lords of Salem we had a lot of fun going around shooting things, and that’s always going to happen when you’re making movies. But trying to hone that skill where that happens less and less each time, that’s the most important thing.

In your past films, you’ve managed to create some pretty iconic characters. Capt. Spaulding  and the whole Firefly family, for example. It seems like you can’t go to a horror convention and not see someone with a Capt. Spaulding tattoo. Do you think 31 is going to produce any iconic characters like that?

I think there are several characters in this film that are of that caliber. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them quickly become Halloween costumes. Not that I create them with that in mind, but they have that vibe. I mean, I’m amazed with the literally thousands of Capt. Spaulding tattoos I’ve seen. And even with Lords of Salem, I thought I’d post a couple of fan tattoos from that on my Facebook page and now there are hundreds up there. It’s unbelievable how things catch on.

Speaking of Lords of Salem, is Sheri going to be in 31?

I don’t know who’s going to be in it right now. I’m still working on it, it keeps changing. Every time I think about a character, it keeps changing so for now it’s still a mystery.

Okay. Well is there anything you can tell us about 31 that you haven’t teased yet? 

I don’t know if I’ve said this yet…but I love the look and feel of The Devil’s Rejects. For me, that’s the type of filmmaking that I really love. With Lords of Salem, I wanted to do something different, that was appropriate to the story. But this is more (in The Devil’s Rejects) vein and the movie is set in 1976, so it’s a full-on, nasty ‘70s movie.

Do you think you could see 31 becoming a franchise? 

The set-up of the story definitely could be told over and over and over. I don’t want to give too much away but, I don’t know if I would even be interested in making it a franchise. I’m always moving on to the next idea, you know? But it definitely has the potential to be one. Who knows?

Very cool. Off topic a little bit here, but what’s the status of your Broad Street Bullies movie?

Well I worked on that for a long time, I worked on that for almost two years to be the follow-up to Lords of Salem. It was just one of those things though. It’s a true story with real people and obviously the rights to the Philadelphia Flyers is a whole other story. I didn’t really have a lot of control of the project and it just kept dragging on and on. After two years I was like, “Look, I’m going to go do something else.” I would love to go back to it but I didn’t want to spend five years working on Broad Street Bullies with nothing to show for it so that’s why I moved on to something else.

Very off topic here, why is Tom Baker your favorite Dr. Who?

I think because he was the first one I ever saw back in the ‘70s when I started watching Dr. Who. That’s back when Dr. Who was on PBS, no one knew what it fucking was. I was like “What is this show, Dr. Who?” As a kid didn’t know what it was so I put it on and my first impression was “This is the worst show ever made.” The production value looked like a bad soap opera. And then I got SO into it, I was obsessed with it. And I guess Tom Baker will always be Dr. Who for me because that was the first doctor I saw.

Being Halloween time now, what are your go-to movies for this time of year?

It’s all movies I’ve seen a billion times. Stuff like Island of Lost Souls, and obviously Frankenstein, Dracula, all the old Universal stuff I just love. Me and Sheri have been watching all of the Hammer films lately. I watched Blacula last night, you know. Pretty much older stuff like that.

What’s your favorite movie so far this year?

Good question. Fuck, I don’t even know what I’ve seen. Probably that movie Boyhood. That was pretty awesome.

Right on. And real quick before we go, one of my friends up in New England wanted to know what part of Haverhill do you think sucks the most.

Let’s me think…the high school sucked pretty fucking bad.